


I Draw Back the Veil and I Say a Prayer

by Nebula5030



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: (But numerous people have told me I can't write them without SOME romantic subtext so ya know), (Wasn't my intention for this fic), Angst, Canon Divergence, Episode: s04e01-02 The Darkest Hour, Gen, Slight Merlin/Gwaine if you squint
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-13
Updated: 2019-08-13
Packaged: 2020-08-23 21:16:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20226655
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nebula5030/pseuds/Nebula5030
Summary: Gwaine blinked after them.  What were they fighting over?  Why hadn’t they closed the rift yet?And what did they mean-?A cold feeling sunk over him and his heart skipped a beat.Human sacrifice had opened it.Was that what it would take to close it?What if things had gone just a little bit differently on the Isle of the Blessed?





	I Draw Back the Veil and I Say a Prayer

**Author's Note:**

> Ever have an angsty idea come to you and it just won't go away?  
Anyways, I wrote this in an hour and a half, and I hope you enjoy lol
> 
> ~
> 
> _Down in the garden,_  
_Where the mushrooms grow,_  
_And the moss-covered stone,_  
_Shows me home,_  
_Wet soil on my fingers,_  
_I draw back the veil,_  
_And I say a prayer,_  
_But I’m not scared. -- Down in the Garden,_ Damh the Bard 

“You can’t!”

“Merlin, I’m a knight! It’s my _ job _to protect them -”

“It’s _ my _job too! Or have you forgotten that?”

Gwaine groaned, the shouting voices cracking into his skull as consciousness slowly returned to him. He was against a hard ground, and he could feel a cool breeze running across his face.

Where was he anyway?

He blinked his eyes open.

A starry sky greeted him, surrounded on the edges by crumbling stone walls. And at the edges of his hearing, underneath Merlin and Lancelot’s arguing voices, he could hear the swirling of -

Oh yeah. That’s right.

They had come to The Isle of the Blessed to fix the rift - to save Camelot from the Dorocha.

Gwaine sat up. He glanced to his side.

Arthur was out cold, splayed unflatteringly on the ground. Gwaine blinked - that must have happened after he’d been knocked out - before turning back to Merlin and Lancelot.

Lancelot had his arms around Merlin’s torso, dragging him backwards away from the altar in the middle of the clearing. Merlin was fighting against him, kicking and struggling and elbows flying.

“It has to be me!” Merlin argued, still trying to get Lancelot’s arms off of him. _ “It’s my destiny to protect Arthur!” _

“Then stay here and do it!” Lancelot shouted in return. “If you go through, then who will keep him safe after you’re gone? Let me do this!”

“No!”

Gwaine blinked after them. What were they fighting over? Why hadn’t they closed the rift yet?

And what did they mean-?

A cold feeling sunk over him and his heart skipped a beat.

Human sacrifice had opened it.

Was that what it would take to close it?

Were Merlin and Lancelot arguing over who… over who was going to do it?

He heard Lancelot again. “Don’t throw away your life like this!”

“Why do I have any less right to decide what to do with my life than you do?!”

Gwaine shut his eyes and let out a low breath.

He pushed himself to a stand and lifted his chin, facing towards the rift that stretched up towards the sky. He let out a shaking breath as he rolled his shoulders back, and took several steps forward.

An Cailleach was partway to the gate. She looked him over with amusement, smiling to herself. She addressed him once he was close enough. “So it will be you, then?”

Gwaine gave her a wry smirk, before looking over his shoulder at where Merlin and Lancelot were still arguing, and where Arthur was, still, unconscious on the ground. “Can’t let it be any of them, now, can I?”

An Cailleach bowed her head a bit - perhaps a gesture of respect. “Very well. I will see you on the other side, Sir Gwaine.”

She vanished with a gust of wind.

Gwaine blinked at where she had been, before he took in a breath to steel himself and looked once more towards the tear between this life and the next.

He walked forward once more.

In his chest, he could feel his heart pounding, harder and harder with each step closer.

Would it really not be beating anymore in only a few moments?

He stopped just before the gate, all too aware of Merlin and Lancelot’s voices in the back, still shouting one over the other.

How was it they were still fighting over this?

“Gentlemen, _ gentlemen,” _ Gwaine started, calling to them. He looked over his shoulder. “If you could stop fighting now, I’d greatly appreciate it.”

It was then Merlin and Lancelot finally stopped arguing - the silence that followed almost deafening - and their heads snapped towards the gate.

Their eyes widened in horror. “Gwaine, what are you-?” Merlin started.

“If I’m understanding correctly, one of us has to go through,” Gwaine said, turning back to the rift and staring into the swirling darkness beyond - barely an arm’s reach in front of him. “That’s the only way to save everyone.”

“Gwaine, you don’t - we can find another way-!”

“Well, it didn’t sound to me like either of you had any other ideas!” Gwaine snapped back. “If you have some, tell me!”

He heard Merlin’s stuttering as he tried to say something - _ anything - _and was only too painfully aware of the lost expression on Lancelot’s face.

Neither of them had any ideas, and they all knew it.

Gwaine couldn’t deny his heart sinking.

“Thought not,” Gwaine said quietly, head dropping just a bit. He let out a low breath and lifted his hands to the back of his neck. “Merlin,” he called back. He undid the clasp of his necklace, before looking back over his shoulder once more. He held it out to him. “Take care of this for me, yeah? I want to know you have it.” 

Merlin’s eyes widened further. “Gwaine -”

A sad smile flickered across Gwaine’s face. “Thank you, Merlin. For everything.”

He turned towards the rift.

He heard Merlin’s voice. “Gwaine, stop!”

But he didn’t. He took a step.

“Gwaine, _ no!” _

His hand let go of the chain.

He was gone before his necklace hit the ground.


End file.
